The Dragon King’s Substitute Bride
Chapter 55

MIDAS

He is angry.

No, that does not feel strong enough.

Livid...infuriated...seething.

Yes that's the one. He is seething, the anger bubbling over, spilling out of every pore in his body.

How stupid he had been.

"Your highness I..."

"I know Leo. You were only doing what is expected of you. It is her who is to blame."

"Your majesty, I sincerely do not believe she ran away, she did not look so good when we were standing outside."

But Midas is no longer listening.

The door of Arydian's tiny red apothecary is thrown so violently open, it hits the other side of the wall hard enough to chip the brick, raining down a shower of sand and dust. "Let's split up, cover more ground."

The Chief Ryder nods and starts down the left.

His jaw works, teeth grinding hard against each other.

He had listened to her, had let himself be fooled by the righteous anger in her eyes and the warmth in her laugh, the way her voice cracked when she told him she was done running. He had believed her.

Well, it would be the last time.

But he is not just angry.

Arydian's words...

"Elian says you better hurry."

He is worried and knowing that...angers him even more.

"Er'gan."

"Dragon king."

"Find her."

"As you wish."

His eyes turn the color of blood and his pupils narrow to thin black slits.

Er'gan's power, hot and burning floods through his veins and instantly his senses sharpen.

He can hear the conversations of his people in their homes, the sound of a tired dragonkin woman pulling her crying, reluctant child down the street, heading home, the noise of the merchants and vendors as far as the capital square, their activities beginning to wind down for the day.

It all flows to him, a loud, largely incoherent buzzing of noise but nothing concrete, nothing that tells him where she is.

So he tunes it out, focuses on his other senses, lifting his nose in the air.

He can smell the rabbit stew bubbling on a stove two streets away, the sharp, sickly sweet smell of three day old fruit sitting in front of the window above him.

He groans. Come on...come on....

Then he catches it; Elderberries and honey.

Her.

But just as quickly as he smells it, it disappears.

It is too faint...too elusive.

The wind blowing down the street is not making things any easier.

The tether bond is a tricky thing; both a peace and a torment.

It may be helping him sleep better at night but it also the reason why he is unable to concentrate, his fist clenching and unclenching as beads of sweat roll down his back. She is in danger.

He can feel it and his heart is pounding in response, so hard and so fast he can feel the blood rushing between his ears.

"Calm down dragon king."

"Do not tell me to be calm Er'gan. You heard what the king maker said. If something happens to her..."

"Something will happen to her if you do not calm down. Trust me dragon king I know exactly what it means for your tether to get hurt and I wish to replace her just as badly as you do." He stops running, his head swiveling from side to side.

"So why can I not sense her?"

"Your emotions are getting the better of you."

Midas scoffs. "You are one to talk. Between us both, you are the one with the anger issues."

"Now?...of all times, you wish to do this now?"

"No...goddamit. I am trying to calm down."

"Might I suggest closing your eyes instead?"

The bland sarcasm in the dragon's voice is unmistakable and Midas scowls.

"Oh f**k off Er'gan."

But he does as the dragon suggests.

He swallows and closes his eyes, ignoring the urgency and the urge to take off running again.

"Now what?"

"Focus dragon king...focus."

"It is not working Er'gan."

"Try harder."

This is exactly why he has stayed away from relationships all this years.

Things were so much easier when you just did not care.

Midas takes deep breaths and forces himself to slow his heartbeat.

Pushing all emotions to the back of his mind until all that is left is the calm, cool collection of the dangerous predator that is the dragon king.

He centers himself, feels Er'gan power curl out from his center and wrap around his limbs.

"Good. Now open your eyes. Can you see it?"

"What am I supposed to be..." He opens his eyes and the words die in his throat.

The street has narrowed, faded somehow, as everything around Midas has been drained out of its color.

The only thing left, bright and shimmering is a thin gold thread that stretches out from Midas and disappears down the narrow, foggy street.

Midas knows what it is, he has read about it, even expected it but seeing it, the physical representation of the tether bond is something awe inspiring.

The thread, which only he can see, a connecting line that attaches him to the other half of his soul would have appeared the minute he first recognized her as his own.

It is faint now, fading in and out but the stronger the bond became, the more corporeal the thread would become.

And although he has no plans of letting that happen, of allowing the bond grow any stronger, as long as he could focus enough to see it, he could always replace her. Would always replace her.

Then he feels it, hears it...just like that time in the Elder forest when she had screamed his name.

A sharp spear of pain and light piercing through his thoughts, knocking him forwards.

"MIDAS...Somebody....Help!!"

He takes off the direction of the thread, using Er'gan power to propel himself at inhumane speeds down the nearly empty streets.

He would transform but the streets are too narrow and Er'gan is a massive dragon, transforming here would no doubt attract more attention that he needs, not to mention it would in all likelihood break down, or chip off the walls of quite a few houses. Besides, he has no time to waste.

He is close, he can feel it.

But he can also feel her getting weaker...fading.

Goddamit Hera, don't you dare let go.

The rope is getting shorter and shorter with each step that brings him closer to her.

Just a little more, it bends around a corner...into an alley.

As always, he smells her before he even sees her.

But see her he does and blinding, red hot pain stabs at his chest.

She is slumped against the filth covered walls, her hands hanging limp by her sides, finger twitching.

And the man...the man still stands over her with his teeth bared, his hands stills wrapped around her neck.

Midas' visions fogs over, his rage boiling over to a fever pitch and Er'gan takes over his body, curling out from his centre and claiming control with a loud, angry roar.

The man barely has time to turn, to notice them standing at the entrance the alley.

Their movement across the distance is a blur of motion, snapping the man's neck in the space of a single heart beat.

His legs fold beneath him and the round, disgusting dragonkin man crumbles, dead before he even reaches the floor.

They stare at him, at the man lying at their feet with his head bent at an obscene angle, eyes wide open but seeing nothing. But they are still angry.

It is not enough that he is dead.

Not enough at all.

Not for Midas...not for Er'gan.

He had dared to touch her, to hurt her and that deserved a punishment much worse than death.

His entire family should perish with him...mush perish with him.

They can replace them. Of course they can.

All they need to do is rip his heart out of his chest....to smell his blood.

And then they would replace them.....

His father...his mother...his daughters....his sons...everyone who has his vile, disgusting blood running through their veins.

And they would make them pay.

Makes them bleed and suffer and...

"Midas?"

Tiny, faint, barely even there yet strong enough to pierce through the haze of blood lust rushing through his veins and hand Midas back the control of his body and his mind. He rushes to her side, cradles her against him.

"Hera..."

She coughs. "Midas...Midas......."

"Do not try to talk just yet. Let's get you home first."

She coughs harder, her voice raspy and hoarse. She is obviously in pain but when has she ever listened to him.

"Are you mad at me?"

Mad...he is beyond mad.

He wants to hug her and kiss her and shake some goddamn common sense into her.

He clenches his jaw.

All that can wait. He needs to get her back to the castle now, needs to make sure she is alright.

That is all that matters to him.

He lifts her up, one hand around her back, the other under her knees. "I knew letting you out of the castle was a bad idea."

"It was not...wait...the girl."

"What girl?"

"There was a girl...he was beating her...that's why I..."

She is weak, half conscious, yet she struggles around in his arms, trying weakly to turn her head and see behind him.

He had not noticed anyone but then again he had barely been able to see past her hurt form, slumped against that wall.

He looks around now.

"There is no one else here Hera."

She sighs, her body relaxing in his grip. "At least she got away."

She coughs again and her head falls weakly against his chest.

He can see the marks the beast left around her neck.

Wide and red and raw and all the anger comes rushing back, almost taking control again but she raises her hand and places a cool, shaky palm on his cheek.

"I did not think you would come."

"Why wouldn't I come?"

"I thought..." cough "...you would be..." cough "...angry."

"I am and by all the gods will you stop trying to talk."

He walks out of the alley.

"Leo"

"Your highness."

"I have found her."

Silence. Then.... "Is she okay?"

"She is alive if that is what you mean."

The chief Ryder's relief is palpable even through the mind link.

"Thank the gods."

"Take the carriage and meet us at the castle. I will fly us home."

"Yes my Lord."

Black and wide, Er'gan's wings rip through his skin, to unfold and stretch out and with one powerful flap, he lifts them both in the air, sending them soaring over the capital. "So why did you come?"

"What?"

She hangs unto him, her eye closed.

She repeats the question like she is afraid of the answer.

"I broke your trust and ran away again. Why did you come?"

He hesitates and then sighs in resignation.

"I will always come to you Hera...always."